How can I get blue ink stains out of a cotton T-shirt?

Question

I stupidly did a load of laundry with a blue pen in my jeans and now I have several shirts with blue ink stains and spots, mostly cotton Polos and shirts. Is there any way of getting these out now that they have gone through the dryer?

Answer 1

I'm amazed how well Oxi-Clean works! It even got most of the stain out for me when I dried it in the dryer before noticing the stain, applying Oxi Clean and leaving it sit for 15 min. before washing it again! It looked great!

Answer 2

Hair spray is the commonly recommended remedy for ink stains, although I've always found it to just thin the ink out and spread it around. Now that you've washed and dried it you've pretty much set the stain.
I think you're doomed. I buy lots of thrift and consider myself the stain queen - because I buy thrift stuff so cheap I try all sorts of things because I don't care if I ruin the garment...and I think you are stuck.
What you could try is dying all the shirts that dark blue. I overdye stains sometimes if I really like the garment or even if I just buy something I like the cut of but not the color.
Use Procion MX dye in your washer, you can get it at your local art store or order it online from Jaquard. After you've done your wash load just run a bleach load through the washer to clean it. I do this all the time when I tie dye or dye wool for rug braiding and I have NEVER had a staining incedent from using my washer. You could also try RIT, but I can't help you on that one because I haven't used it in over 30 years - never liked the whole heat on the stove thing.
Good luck.

Answer 3

This is one way to remove the ink stains from your shirts, I have done this before so I know it works. Hint: Ink-ball.polnt pen

Pour denatured alcohol through stain. Rub in petroleum jelly. Sponge with non­flammable dry cleaning solvent. Soak in detergent solution. Wash with detergent and bleach safe for fabric

Answer 4

You can try 1/2 alcohol and 1 cup water. pour some on each stain. and let sit for about 10 minutes, then add some dawn and rub the stain and then rinse. It might take a few tries.

Answer 5

The only thing that's ever worked on ink for me is the product
Carbona ink remover but it's very iffy after the clothes have already been dried.

Answer 6

There's a product called "Zout" that you can find in most laundry cleaning areas of department stores. It's a spray on cleaner and works great on stains!

Answer 7

try spraying hair spray on the ink stains and let it dry then wash again maybe it will get them out

Answer 8

try hairspray